James 2:26
"For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead."
James is saying that, faith (that one professes to possess) is actually dead, lifeless and useless, without fruit or deeds. We had might as well place this faith in a coffin and bury it in the cemetery. That is a tragic picture of a faith without works! However, James is not saying that, works be added to faith, but that one who possess the right kind of faith, is evidenced by a faith that works.
It is important that each professing Christian examine his own heart and life and make sure that he possesses true saving faith, dynamic faith and not something untrue.
As stated in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified.”
Satan, the great deceiver, has as one of his devices - imitation. If he can convince a person, that a counterfeit faith is true faith, he has that person in his power.
Martin Luther said, and I agree, "The biblical truth is, we are justified by faith alone, but good works prove that our faith in Christ alone is a genuine, saving faith.
The Truth
“For the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (John 5:28-29)
